James Reilly blames Dáil exit on his ‘time in health’

James Reilly clutched his wife’s hand tightly when the returning officer confirmed he had lost his seat to Sinn Féin’s Louise O’Reilly.

The deputy leader of Fine Gael was eliminated on the 10th and final count in Dublin Fingal, the constituency in which he had topped the poll in 2011.

His supporters seemed resigned about his fate from the time they saw the final tally on Saturday afternoon that put the Sinn Féin candidate at 9%, just 1% ahead of him.